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Today, the legendary Roots crew announced their annual ROOTS PICNIC is returning to Philadelphia’s Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing on Saturday, June 1st. The festival is celebrating its sixth year with an eclectic lineup over two stages that Roots Picnic fans have come to expect – boasting performances by: Gary Clark Jr., Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and a show-stopping set with Naughty By Nature backed by The Roots.

Gary Clark Jr. has swagger. The guitar virtuoso, whose roots run deep in blues, jazz, soul, country and hip-hop influences, has taken 2012 by storm and continues to amaze in 2013. Clark is a spotlight act at festivals like Coachella, Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza – and can now add performing at The Roots Picnic to his growing list of accolades. His hit “Bright Lights,” along with his album Blak and Blu, perfectly showcase his smooth vocal style and the poise of a veteran musician at only 28 years old.

Seattle duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis is making serious waves in the hip-hop word with their electrifying live shows, skillfully blended music and innovative music videos. In support of their debut full-length album The Heist, they embarked on a completely sold-out 70-city tour and saw the album fly to the very top of the iTunes and Billboard charts.

Hip-hop vets, Naughty By Nature, have smashed through mainstream barriers while still remaining true to their roots in rap. Their 20+ years in music has earned the trio the titles of Grammy Award winners and platinum-album selling artists. Since their self-title debut album in 1991, Naughty By Nature quickly assaulted the charts with their No. 1 hit “O.P.P.” Since then, these three “Kings of The HipHop Anthem” have remained a large part of the American hip-hop legacy.

RELATED: In a live setting, bluesman Gary Clark Jr. is a force of nature. But Blak And Blu, his major label debut, finds him flaunting a chameleon-like versatility. The album opens with the Memphis Horns-style blast of “Ain’t Messin’ Round” and Clark then proceeds to give you a history lesson of the last 60 years of music in 60 minutes. Thundering rockers, Prince-ly falsetto jams and a Jimi Hendrix/Albert King mash-ups all sit comfortably next to each other in Clark’s world. He sandwiches the trippy abstract R&B of the title track between two of his signature songs, “When My Train Pulls In” and “Bright Lights,” and it all flows perfectly. He follows that with the swaggering Chuck Berry-channeling “Travis County,” then careens through a half dozen more musical styles — trip-hop, rock, metal, doo-wop, pop, blues — until the dusty closing went-down-to-the-crossroads stomp of “Next Door Neighbor Blues.” MORE

RELATED: D’Angelo triumphantly returned to the music scene last year after a long hiatus, teaming back up with The Roots’ ?uestlove to complete his third album. During an interview with Billboard.com, the drummer said that the two have been in the studio finishing up work on the LP, which they began recording back in 2004. He explains that they were spending almost entire days wrapping up the project, and confirms that it’s “99 percent” done. “All last week, I was in the studio finishing (the album),” he said. “We spent close to 18 hours, well not me personally because I have to go to ‘Fallon,’ but usually right after work. He’s the only person that I’ll actually go to the studio with and stay there to six in the morning, re-doing these drum parts. I won’t even do that for my own band, but I’ll do it for him. Right now, we’re just tightening up the loose ends. But I still stand by, 99% of it is done.” ?uestlove, who says that the album should be done by February at the latest, likened the album to a “classic” that’s ahead of its time and compared it to Sly and the Family Stone. MORE

PREVIOUSLY: The album is pretty much 97% done. He’s just finishing his lyrics now. He needs somebody to smack him and take the record away from him because it’s pretty much finished. […] For all intents and purposes, this album is the black version of [The Beach Boys’] Smile– at best, it will go down in the Smile/There’s a Riot Goin’ On/Miles Davis’ On the Corner category. That’s what I’m hoping for. There’s stuff on there I was amazed at, like new music patches [keyboard sounds] I’ve never heard before. I’d ask him, “What kind of keyboard is that?” I thought it was some old vintage thing. But he builds his own patches.

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Tuesday, January 22nd, 2013 at
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